Snapshots From Portland

The Portland Head Lighthouse welcomed us into Portland Harbor where we took a mooring at Portland Yacht Services. They have a launch service, but the driver, Cody, only learned to drive a boat last week, so we launched our dinghy after our first (and only) ride with him.

Overlooking the harbor is a statue of Captain Christopher Levett, who tried to found a colony here, but failed. You can see Thistle out there beyond his left arm.

Portland has been destroyed and rebuilt many times, and after a fire in the late 1800s lots of the commercial area was rebuilt using brick and cast iron. There are many wonderful examples of Victorian commercial architecture, and also numerous Victorian homes surrounding the commercial area.

The city is a lively mix of old and new and is the largest urban area in Maine. It sort of reminded us of San Francisco.

There are many restaurants of all types including this restaurant flying Japanese fish windsocks.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born here.

There are also many interesting pieces of public art.

And lots of old churches.

Most of the old homes were painted in somber colors, so this one really stood out.

We also visited the lighthouse again to see it from the land.

This morning we motored out past the lighthouses again and turned east towards the hundreds of rocky coves and tiny islands that make up the rest of Maine's coast.